democrats and republicans can still get together on a balanced solution to the deficit crisis. republican senator mitch mcconnell says that he know that sequestration would have consequences, but he blames president obama for not putting forward an acceptable plan to prevent it. for more on that, jonathan strong, staff writer, role call, alexander burns and national political reporter with politico. good afternoon to both of you. >> hello. >> outgoing defense secretary leon panetta warned that the $85 billion in cuts would curtail american naval operations by a full third and could force furloughs of as many as 800,000 civilian workers. take a listen to what he said. >> it is difficult to believe, frankly, that congress would simply stand aside. stand aside, fail to make the decisions necessary to resolve this crisis and allow the defense economy, equality of life of america to be irreparably damaged. >> how damaging would these cuts be to our national security? >> it's a great question. the impact is going to be fairly dramatic to some of the employees, civilian employees of t